Beware of some of these common fear reactions:

1. Becoming paralyzed with indecision. It never helps to throw your hands in the air and yell at anyone who might interrupt your outward signs of despair. Despair without action can only make matters worse. Remember, your competition will probably be in the same state. While they’re wringing their hands, you should be making plans.
2. Advertise just enough to fail. I know how important it is to keep the lights on and have enough money to pay your vendors. At the end of the day, you think that there’s not enough money left to spend on advertising. You hear a nagging voice in your head that reminds you that to make money you have to spend money. You panic and choose the least expensive media option. When it doesn’t work, you kick yourself because you think you were stupid enough to spend money in a down economy when you knew it was a bad idea in the first place.
3. Do your advertising yourself to save money. Big no on that. The cost of producing ads is such a small part of your overall media budget. Now more than ever, you have to turn every dollar you spend on advertising into profits. Seasoned professionals know how to craft a compelling, results oriented message to a highly targeted list of prospects.
4. Is it time time to give up? Not yet. In fact, it is not even time to stop advertising. For decades, research has repeatably shown that those who advertise in a bad economy come out way ahead of their competitors. And, businesses that continue to promote aggressively will outperform those who pull back both now and when the economy recovers.

Here are some tips that will help you get started:

• The reach-frequency equation: It is always better to reach fewer prospect several times than to reach more prospects fewer times. According to research, it takes seven advertising impressions to catch someone’s attention. However, in my experience the number of impressions is highly dependent on the strength of the message.
• To get noticed you have to be bold. Today, every successful sale needs to have multiple layers of incentives. For example, offer a gift just for stopping in, coupons for extra savings, a strong finance deal, and free televisions, iPads and other electronic devices with big ticket purchases. This is particularly good for holiday gifts from now until the end of the year.
• Start with one media source at a time. If you are on a budget, and who isn’t, decide which media option will give you the most bang for the buck. Then, formulate a six month plan and stick to it. Remember, one of the worst things you can do is advertise just enough to fail.
• Your customer list is one of your most important advertising tools. 80% of sales come from your existing customers database.  Make sure it is updated at least once a year using USPS software to identify customers who recently moved or who have invalid mailing addresses.
• Holiday sales really work. Recent Pew Research found that more and more consumers are holding out for holiday sales to make purchases.  Many retailers had surprising good results with both Memorial Day and Labor Day promotions. Take advantage of holiday sales throughout the year

Use advertising to gain market share both now and in the future. Over and over again studies show that those who advertise in an economic downturn fair much better when the economy improves.